“Another beach, brothers,” he said ruefully. Telamon rubbed his hands together to brush away the sand. The distasteful sneer he wore made it clear that he still detested sand after all these years away from Troy.
“What are your orders?” asked a soldier with faceted black eyes.
“Make camp. We wait for our master here,” Telamon decreed. “When he’s ready, he will join us.”
“Are you okay?” Ariadne asked plaintively.
Matt blinked hard and was finally able to banish the image in his head.
“I’m fine,” he said, concentrating on the task at hand. “Go on, Claire.”
“Okay, so like I said, the first time I saw something weird—well, weirder than usual—was when Lennie was reaching for a spoon. It shook for a second, like it was shivering, and then it just flew into her hand.”
“All three of us saw something similar to that when we were in Andy’s hospital room,” Ariadne added.
“Describe it,” Matt said, turning to Andy.
“Well, first she got angry and then she lit up. Sparks started to fall out of her skin and hair like rain,” Andy said, her lovely voice filling with awe as she remembered. “All the equipment in my room started to rattle, and I could have sworn I felt my bed move.”
For a moment, Matt’s bedroom fell silent as they all thought about this.
“I felt something strange like that when Helen got angry the other day,” Jason added reluctantly.
“What happened?” Matt asked.
“She and Lucas were checking in on Jerry, and they started fighting. I guess it was pretty bad because they went down to the fight cage to settle it. I could have sworn I felt the house shake for a second.”
“That could have been an impact tremor,” Matt said. “They’re strong enough to shake the house when they hit the ground.”
“It was before they got downstairs. They were just walking, Matt,” Jason said with a shrug. Matt paused, thinking.
“Did you see any lightning?” he asked the three girls.
“Not really,” Ariadne said for them. “What we saw was definitely electrical, but I can’t figure out why that would make stuff rattle like that. The whole thing was just strange. And scary.”
“Her voice was all funny,” Claire added, rubbing her arms like she had a chill.
“W
ay too much reverb,” Andy said emphatically. “I’m a siren, I know voices, and I’ve never heard anything like that before.”
“She sounded like a goddess,” Ariadne said, summing it up for the three of them. “Something’s happened to her, guys.”
“You think?” Jason said, rolling his eyes. “After everything she’s been through, she’s bound to have changed a bit. That doesn’t mean she’s changed in a bad way. Cut her some slack. She just fought a god.”
“And won,” Matt added quietly. “She fought a god and won. How strong do you think she’d have to be to do that?”
“Stronger than any other Scion. Ever.” Ariadne’s voice shook.
“She was tortured, you guys,” Jason countered sternly.
“Exactly,” Ariadne responded. “And you think an experience like that is going to change her for the better?”
“This is ridiculous,” Jason said angrily. He spun around and stormed to the door.
“Jason,” Claire began, but he turned back and cut her off.
“I know you and Helen have been best friends since you were little, and that she’s changing a lot and it’s scaring you. But everyone changes. Just because you don’t understand what’s happening to Helen doesn’t mean you have any reason to be afraid of her. I hope you all realize that before you go and do something stupid.”